This Day In History
535 - Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year 1600 - British East India Company chartered 1669 - France & Brandenburg sign secret treaty 1670 - France & England sign Boyne-treaty 1744 - English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's nutation motion (wobble) 1756 - Russia joins the Alliance of Versailles 1758 - British expeditionary army occupies Goree (Dakar) Senegal 1775 - Battle of Quebec in American Revolutionary War; Americans defeated trying to take British stronghold 1783 - Import of African slaves banned by all of the Northern US states 1805 - End of French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorianism 1861 - 22,990mm of rain falls in Cherrapunji Assam in India in 1861, a world record 1862 - Battle of Stone's River (Battle of Murfreesboro), Tennesse in American Civil War 1901 - In the first election under their new constitution, Cuba elects a Congress and their first president, Tomas Estrada Palma 1924 - Italian Fascist Mussolini orders the suppression of opposition newspapers 1942 - Battle of the Barents Sea between British Navy and German Kriegsmarine off North Cape, Norway 1944 - Japanese army evacuates harbor city Akyab 1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany. 1946 - US President Harry Truman officially proclaims end of WW II 1951 - 1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electricity announced 1952 - Danny Nardico stops former world middleweight champion Jake LaMotta in 7 rounds in a light heavyweight non-title bout in Coral Gables, Florida; LaMotta is knocked down for the only time in his career, his corner stopping fight after the round 1955 - The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year. 1961 - Failed coup by Syrian group in Lebanon 1961 - Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion 1964 - Donald Campbell (UK) sets world water speed record (276.33 mph) 1964 - Indonesia proclaims expelled from the UN 1974 - Popular Electronics displays Altair 8800 computer 1977 - Amir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah becomes leader of Kuwait 1977 - Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with Vietnam 1978 - Iran shah names Chapour Bakhtiar premier 1978 - Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with US 1980 - After being struck by an orange thrown from the crowd West Indian fast bowler Sylvester Clarke knocks out a spectator with a brick during 4th Test against Pakistan in Multan 1983 - Brunei gains complete independence from Britain 1983 - Nigeria's National Assembly dissolves after military coup 1983 - President Shagari of Nigeria is overthrown in a military coup and Major General Muhammadu Buhari is installed as Head of State 1986 - Russian TU-144 flies for 1st time faster than sound 1990 - Iraq begins a military draft of 17 year olds 1997- Intel cuts price of Pentium II-233 MHz from $401 to $268 1997- Microsoft buys Hotmail email service for $400 million and re-launches it as MSN Hotmail 1998- Exchange rates between the euro and legacy currencies in the Eurozone become fixed. 1999 -Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting President